Looking for broad exposure to the Large Cap Growth segment of the US equity market? You should consider the iShares Russell Top 200 Growth ETF (IWY), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on September 22, 2009.
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $16.29 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
Why Large Cap Growth
Companies that fall in the large cap category tend to have a market capitalization above $10 billion. Considered a more stable option, large cap companies boast more predictable cash flows and are less volatile than their mid and small cap counterparts.
Growth stocks have higher than average sales and earnings growth rates. While these are expected to grow faster than the broader market, they also have higher valuations. Further, growth stocks have a higher level of volatility associated with them. Even though growth stocks are more likely to outperform their value counterparts in strong bull markets, value stocks have a record of delivering better returns in almost all markets than growth stocks.
Costs
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.2%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.36%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector -- about 56.1% of the portfolio. Consumer Discretionary and Telecom round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA) accounts for about 13.96% of total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT).
The top 10 holdings account for about 65.56% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
IWY seeks to match the performance of the Russell Top 200 Growth Index before fees and expenses. The Russell Top 200 Growth Index is a style factor weighted index that measures the performance of the largest capitalization growth sector of the U.S. equity market. It is a subset of the Russell Top 200 Index issuers with relatively higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth, which measures the performance of the largest capitalization sector of the U.S. equity market.
The ETF return is roughly 0.54% so far this year and it's up approximately 20.06% in the last one year (as of 01/13/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $187.50 and $288.26.
The ETF has a beta of 1.15 and standard deviation of 19.05% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 114 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
iShares Russell Top 200 Growth ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IWY is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
The Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ) track a similar index. While Vanguard Growth ETF has $205.62 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $413.12 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.04% and QQQ charges 0.2%.
Bottom-Line
Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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iShares Russell Top 200 Growth ETF (IWY): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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